


Light of the Silver Moon

by officialjonsnow



Series: The Crossroad Chronicles [1]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28071657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/officialjonsnow/pseuds/officialjonsnow
Summary: The beginning of the backstory for one of my NPCs. He's a drow being raised by a surface elf in Silverymoon and he doesn't know that anything is wrong with the world yet.
Series: The Crossroad Chronicles [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2056383
Kudos: 1





	Light of the Silver Moon

“Farnelis, wake up.” There was a gentle tapping on his shoulder and Farnelis stirred from his sleep. 

The young drow rubbed his eyes, yawned, and looked up at Qinris. Farnelis furrowed his brow. “What- What time is it?” 

“It’s early, three in the morning maybe?” His caretaker answered, buckling his shoes as he waited for Farnelis to come to full consciousness.

Just glancing outside, Farnelis could see the sky was dark, though the streets were well lit by the light of the full moon. That same moonlight brought a shine to Qinris’ eyes. Farnelis noticed that the older elf was still wearing the same robes from that morning and his hair had become a bit disheveled through the course of the day.

“Come on. I want you to see something.” 

Farnelis nodded, sleep still clouding his brain.

The older elf was handing Farnelis his cloak. “We’re going outside?”

“Yes, to the bridge.”

“The bridge?” Farnelis’ eyes lit up. “The Moonbridge?” He turned to look outside his window again. He knew he wouldn’t be able to see the bridge from that view, but he couldn’t help but wonder.

Qinris nodded, his hand still outstretched with Farnelis’ cloak. “Yes, hurry now, we’ll miss it.”

Farnelis pulled the wool cloak on, and the two of them trotted out the door. They went through the alleyways of the college and out onto the main stretch, next to the river.

There was a tall sailboat gliding through the river next to them. It was so much taller than any of the few ships Farnelis had seen coming through. Its sails were down. Farnelis stood on his toes to try and get a closer look at just what was pushing the ship along. Then he remembered why they were there: The Moonbridge.

There was a faint glow coming from around the corner.

“I don’t see it,” Farnelis said, hopping up.

Qinris chuckled. “It’s around the bend.” He looked down at the boy. “Hood up, don’t forget.”

Farnelis nodded and pulled the hood up to hide his face. Not that it ever helped if someone was curious about what he looked like. Passersby would end up getting a look at his face if they really wanted to. 

They turned the bend and there it was. Silver in the moonlight and illuminating everything around it. It was breathtaking. “Wow.” He muttered, voice full of wonder. 

“Was it everything you thought it would be?” Qinris asked.

Farnelis nodded, mouth agape. 

His eyes darted from the bridge to the sailboat. The sailboat was too tall to get through. He looked at Qinris, looked at the guard tower, looked at the boat, then again at the bridge “Are they going to turn him away before he crashes?”

“Just watch.”

Farnelis tapped his feet anxiously and pulled his cloak tighter to his chest “Qinris what if it crashes.”

“It’s not going to crash.”

The sailboat lurched ever closer to the silvery bow of a bridge when suddenly the middle section of the bridge flickered out. 

Farnelis gasped. 

The sailboat kept going, unimpeded by the bridge, and kept on its journey.

When the sailboat was long gone, the bridge flickered back into existence and Farnelis cheered, then looked up at Qinris.

The older elf had found a set of stairs leading back up into the city. He’d taken a seat on the steps and was pulling out his lyre. The same lyre Farnelis always saw him playing.

Farnelis rushed over to Qinris and sat on the steps just above him. “What are you going to play?” He rested his head in his hands, knobbly knees knocking together.

“I’m not sure… do you have any requests?”

The young drow shrugged, then thought for a moment. “Umm… I like the one about The Sea of Swords. I don’t know the name, but it’s slow and kind of goes… dum-dum-dee-dum” he hummed part of the melody to the best that he could remember.

Qinris started strumming where Farnelis’ melody left off. 

He sings about the Sea of Swords, a pirate captain and her lover, their travels, their woes, and finally their happy ending. 

The older elf strummed the lyre while the pair watched the occasional boat sail by into the night. Every new song brought a smile to Farnelis' face.

“How did you learn to play, Qinris?” Farnelis asked, sleep in his voice. 

“Years and years of practice. Dedication to the art.” Qinris shot Farnelis a smile. “I had a good teacher too, years and years before I came here. That helped. At first, it was just music. But there’s magic in music, Farnelis.”

Qinris’ gaze became distant as he looked out toward the water. The music filled the air around them and a breeze of leaves of all colors flew by. Farnelis grinned. Qinris looked out at the water, strummed the lyre and suddenly, a small wave had formed. It grew and grew until it had become a pillar of water about 10 feet tall. Qinris played another note and the pillar fell. 

The river surged the tiniest bit and Farnelis watched in awe. “Wow. What else can you do?”

“All sorts of things. And I can teach them to you if you’d like.”

Farnelis nodded. “I’d love to.”

“We can start tomorrow, for now… I think it’s time you went back to bed.”


End file.
